I love movies, books, T.V. shows, etc. Really though, I love a good story. Stories can be so powerful. They can entertain us, they can frighten us, they can teach us lesson, but most importantly, they can inspire. It doesn’t matter if these stories are fact or fiction, it’s our responses to the stories we are told that matter the most. Think about it. If your twelve year old son, who one day watches a superhero movie like The Avengers, decides that he wants to be like Captain America; are you really going to stop him from wanting to start doing pushups because he wants to be as strong as Captain America or stop him from making morally sound decisions because it’s the right thing to do? At that point, I don’t think it matters that Captain America is a fictional character. All that matters is that a kid was inspired to take care of themselves and try and make this world a better place. Of course, you hope your kid associates with the good guy and not someone like Thanos (another nerd reference if you’re sitting there wondering who Thanos is) but that is where you parents come in. The point I’m making here is that fact or fiction, a good story can hold a lot of potential influence if you let it. Now, let’s take a look further into some of the best stories. We can talk superhero movies, action movies, even dramas, but I think you will find the trend pretty consistent. The lead actor/actress is going through life, doing their thing (maybe that’s fighting crime, saving the universe, or playing sports). Either way, their story slowly builds. We start seeing into the “personal life” of the lead character, until eventually they hit a metaphorical roadblock in their story. Then comes another roadblock, and another, and another. Soon enough, our favorite lead character has been beaten so far down that it doesn’t look like they are going to get back up. Yet, time and time again, like a Rocky Balboa fight, they get up over and over. That’s not to say they never feel like quitting, or even quit a few times, but they always come back into the fight. They don’t stop and with all odds stacked against them, they usually come out on top. Now, that’s not to say they always win. SPOILER ALERT: some of my favorite movies don’t always end in victory. Rocky doesn’t beat Apollo Creed the first time and the Permian Panthers don’t win the championship game in Friday Night Lights, but there is still something to be said about the people who don’t give up. We all fell in love with Rocky, because guess what, he didn’t quit, and eventually that persistence pays off. It always does. Tangent aside, what I was getting at was that our heroes, our favourite characters ALWAYS get beaten down and it never looks good, but they always comeback. They bounce back usually because they don’t have a choice. They persist against all odds and don’t accept defeat. And as an audience, we love every minute of it. But there is one problem that I see when I leave the theatre. We sit in those comfy, now reclining, movie seats and watch a person overcome all odds. In our minds, we think about just how cool that person is because they didn’t give up. They may even inspire us very shortly. They emerge victorious, we cheer (sometimes out loud…), the credits roll, and we get up and leave the theatre, forgetting how awesome it was to watch someone overcoming obstacles. Yet, we don’t have to let it end there. We can live our lives like the superheroes we enjoy watching. Let’s just get this out of the way now. I am not talking about putting on an UnderArmour Thor compression shirt and going out to fight crime and bad guys. Leave that to Chris Hemsworth and the Avengers cast. No, what I’m talking about is living your live with these lessons that movies show us. It feels good to overcome obstacles. The best feeling in the world is conquering something you thought was previously impossible. After I was diagnosed with my disease and it flared up, I thought my life was over (dramatic, I know, but it hits home nonetheless). I thought I had lost the ability to do so many things I had enjoyed previously. The first time I tried running, I failed. I made it up the street and had to rush home. It wasn’t until my fourth or fifth attempt that I was successful. I ran 5km, slowly, but ran it to completion. When I got back to my front porch, I cried. They weren’t sad tears. They were the tears of an athlete who just won the championship that they had been chasing their whole life. All of this over something as simple as a 5km run. You see, it doesn’t matter what your “championship trophy” is. It could be like mine, which was to run 5km, it could be to lose 40lbs, or it could be an actual trophy. The point is that it doesn’t have to be an actual trophy. But whatever it is, believe me when I say it’s attainable. It’ll be work. You will probably fail, at least once, maybe even twice. But if you get back up (and I believe you can get up and dust yourself off) and keep trying, no matter what, you will one day get that trophy you’ve been chasing for so long. And when you do, it is the best feeling in the world. I started this article talking about movies and stories. I did this because I want you to make the connection between how you feel watching those good comeback stories and how much better it feels when you are the lead character. Getting to your goals is hard. The ones worth doing are never easy. But the outcome is always worth it. What’s even better is that your story may (and probably will) inspire others. Watch as the people around you draw strength from your persistence and your success. That feeling is even better than doing it for yourself. Knowing that you can help others to achieve their goals, simply by achieving your own. Show your kids that impossible is only a word. Never let obstacles dictate the ending of your story. Draw on your own inspiration, get your purpose, aim your sights at that goal, and be the hero that walks into the distance in victory as the credits roll on your own story. Impossible is only a word, keep it that way.